Combined garment hanger and stretcher



Nov. 1, 1960 s. ROUSEAU COMBINED GARMENT HANGER AND STRETCHER Filed July 2, 1957 76 6 Jazz/1902mm COIVIBINED GARlVIENT HANGER AND STRETCHER Sylvia Rouseau, 3834 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago, ll].

Filed July 2, 1957, Ser. No. 669,639

1 Claim. (Cl. 223-69) The present invention relates to garment drying forms and concerns itself more particularly with articles of this class which may be manufactured at low cost and used with a wide style variety of sweaters and similar knitted wearables,

Woven and knitted woolen garments, and more particularly sweaters, are susceptible to a high rate of shrinkage, even under the most carefully executed washing operations. Such shrinkage, moreover, is cumulative during successive washing and drying so as to effect substantial dimensional or size changes. Professional dry cleaning is not a practical solution for not only is this method of cleaning more costly, but, more important, dry cleaning hydrocarbon fluids are known to extract certain native oil traces from the wool fiber causing such fiber to become lusterless and brittle.

The fastidious user of knitwear is well acquainted with the fact that only by frequent hand rinsing in mild soap solution and tepid water may the most desirable Wearing qualities and appearance be prolonged. Following such washing the knitted garment requires to be dried under natural evaporation, and while this is taking place the characteristic of shrinkage must be constrained. The garment is placed wet over a rigid form outlining all parts of the garment, and to which the garment should be adequately pinned, as will be explained later.

Numerous classes of garment drying forms have been proposed heretofore with various different objects in mind, for example, adjustability respecting size and compactability for storage following use, but herewith is proposed a drying form of unusual simplicity' of design which may be constructed of low cost materials and one which is exceedingly facile for use. So economical indeed is the form device proposed that for a fraction of the cost of other drying forms an individually characterized garment form may be produced, so that for the average user it will be economically practical to equip himself with a separate drying form for each garment, which need not be stored away following use but instead be retained in the garment and utilized as a garment hanger because of its adaptability and dimensional conformity to con ventional closet hanger proportions.

The primary object of the present invention, therefore, is one of providing a low cost garment drying form which may be manufactured under a wide range of profiles and styling to conform with those of knitted garments.

Another objects of this invention is to provide an article of the class described which may be constructed ontirely of low carbon steel wire, surface protected to resist corrosion and rust, and marketable at such a price range as to be attractive for use as a premium or gift article, or as one to be furnished by the manufacturers of knitwear with each garment and to partake of the individual contour characteristics of each garment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a garment hanger and drier formed entirely of wire with movable or adjustable sleeve components, to serve the dual purpose of stretchment and constraint against shrink- Patented Nov. 1, 1960 age following the washing of the garment and during the drying thereof, and also may be used as a conventional clothes rack to occupy no greater space than ordinary wire garment hangers.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an article of the class described having sleeve form components which are lengthwise adjustable so as to be suitable for use alternatively with knitwear having full, three-quarter, half, or snub sleeves Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a combined garment hanger and drying form which may be inserted into a knitted garment such as a sweater when in wet condition with no risk of hooking or tearing loose woven or fiuify surface fibers while yet performing eifectively as a full profile garment occupancy device respecting torso, sleeves, neck appurtenances and other garment details.

The foregoing and other advantages and purposes of the invention will become apparent and their manner of attainment more fully revealed during the course of the following detailed specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in both of which like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout, and in which;

Fig. l is a front elevational view of one embodiment of my combined drier and hanger utilizing various features of my invention,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail sectional view of a sleeve component attaching device according to the embodiment featured in Fig. i,

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of a sleeve drying form component of different form length and adaptable for use with the embodiment shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of a modified type of sleeve form adaptable to the device illustrated in Fig. 1,

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of another embodiment of combined hanger and drying form in which the sleeve components are collapsible within the torso supporting portion of the device under different and progressive degrees,

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale of the adjustable sleeve component feature together with supporting rails shown in Fig. 5,

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 6 but illustrating a difierent condition of adjustment respecting the sleeve components,

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional detail view taken approximately on line 8-8 of Fig. 5, and

Fig. 9 is an enlarged scale sectional detail view taken approximately on line 9--9 of Fig. 5.

In torso covering woven garments, several style patterns have become established including sleeve length variations, neck style variations, and Waist length. The present invention contemplates an arrangement intended to take care of all such types and classes of variations, but not including bust sizes. In Fig. l the reference numeral 11 denotes a wire frame torso supporting principal member which may be constructed of a single length of cold rolled low carbon steel wire. Beginning with the suspension hook portion 12, there follows the stem 13, which depends from the suspension hook 12. A short horizontal stretch of neck outline wire 14 is bent as at 15 into a neckline convergence section 16 and thence continuing downwardly and outwardly with rounding as at 17 into the shoulder sloping section 18. Thence it continues to the point 19 at which the wire drops nearly vertically to form the pintle supporting section 21, and at the point 22 it turns curvedly inward as at 23 to form an arm pit definition.

Following the aforedescribed course the principal member Wire continues along a substantially straight line with an inwardlysloping lower chest portion 24 until the lowermost corner 25, from which point it extends horizontally as at 26 to form a bottom rail. At point 27 the wire is bent in a symmetrically reverse order having precisely the same outline just described until it reaches the neckline terminal point 28, from which it extends rightwardly iii a horizontal direction with a section 29 which underlies the aforedescribed horizontal section 14. By joining or otherwise integrating the abutting portions of wire sections 28 and 14, preferably by electric spot welding, the torso defining portion may be completed, and if made of wire stock of about No. 12 to No. 9 weight will possess s'ufiicient rigidity without further reinforcement to withstand the stresses imposed upon it while performing as a drying form.

Across the waist portion of the just described torso member there may be provided a series of horizontal rail sections designated 31, 32, and 33 parallel to the bottom rail 26. These horizontal sections are utilized for anchoring the knitted garments at their waistline border extremities to constrain lengthwise shrinking and are provided in multiple to accommodate bodice length variations such as bolero, midriif, and longer lengths. At both ends of each of the pintle supporting sections 21, see also Fig. 2, there may 'be secured as by welding sheet formed tubular socket members 34 and 35 for receiving the inwardly and opposedly turned sections 36 of each arm form secondary component 37, 38, or 39.

When the device is used with a pull-over sweater the arm forms 3739 are advantageously inserted after the torso portion is fully positioned, and by insertion from Within so that the rounded extremities 41 thereof may probe through the limp hanging wet sleeves, thereby avoiding any hazard of snaring, hooking, or interference with seams. After the sleeve forms have been inserted each within its own sleeve of the garment, the pintles 36 are lodged in their tubular housings 34 and 35 and the garment is then ready for pinning, as will now be described.

By pinning is meant any mode of anchoring the garment at its extremities whereby to resist shrinkage in a longitudinal direction in the waist, neck or sleeve elements. This may be accomplished by simply basting with common pins or by the use of conventional spring clamp members 42 applied in the various positions designated in Fig. 1. In the particular illustration the waistline level is indicated as being clamped at the midriff rail 32 by the three clamp elements 42. At the neckline a turtle neck or roll neck sweater is illustrated as being clamped along the horizontal neckline sections 29 and 14 by the clamps 42, while on the sleeve components 37 and 38 the clamps 42 are applied near the wrist extremities all for the purpose, as aforesaid, of preventing shrinkage in the direction essentially longitudinal to its portion of the form assembly.

In Fig. 4 there is illustrated a modification of the sleeve form components designated 45 in which the pintles 46 are formed with a U-shaped double bend as at 47 adapted to partially encircle the bodice pintle supporting sections 21 on one side at the upper extremity, as shown in Fig. 4 and at the other side 48, as shown at the bottom of this figure. Also, in this embodiment the pintle tubes 49 are advantageously welded to the section 21 at the inside surface thereof causing to be attained by reason of the straddle of section 21 a substantial stabilization of the arm component 45 against pivoting, a feature which might be preferred by certain users.

In Figs. through 9 there is illustrated a further variant form of my invention in which the outlining wire stock is again describable from its suspension hook 51 through the horizontal half-length section 52, the turtle neck support projection slope 53, and neckline curvature 54 to the shoulder slope 55. Thence, the wire stock is traceable to the shoulder corner curvature 56, the jut 57 to the reverse curvature point at 58 whence the stock continues along a horizontal direction essentially straightaway except for a series of identical U-shaped lobe formations in rail 59 designated 61. The stock is bent in a manner reverse to the elements already de scribed as 58 and 57 on the other side of the form and then bent reversedly around a short radius curvature at 62 to extend again in a horizontal direction with a straightaway section 63 provided with downwardly disposed half lobe formations 64 in alignment of the formation 61 of rail 59. At point 65 the stock is bent in a curvature paralleling 56 but spaced therefrom as indicated 66 in Fig. 8 to form a companion section to jut 57 up to the point 58 but thereafter extending downwardly and inwardly in a slope 67 until the point 68 whereat an inset or recess lobe is formed for a purpose later to be described.

From this point on the principal or torso portion of the form may resemble that featured in Fig. 1 which includes rails similar to rails 31, 32, and 26, but on the riser slope 69 there is again formed an inset lobe 71 on a line with lobe 68 and thereafter the stock continues paralleling jut 57 on the left side of the form to the point 672. After this the wire stock continues with a shoulder slope 63, and neckline curvature 64 to the corner position 65 whence a terminal horizontal section 66 is provided identical with 29 in the preferred embodiment.

From the aforedescribed and reference to Figs. 6 and 7 it will be understood that the principal torso member of the form may be made of a single length of wire and'that there may be provided double length sections in the jut regions 57, see Fig. 8, to serve as confinement and guides for the arm defining components 75 and 76. In this case, however, the arm components 75 and 76 terminate with upwardly thence sidewardly and downwardly bent hook extremities 77, see Fig. 9, scaled to precisely arch over and snugly receive the inwardly bent lobes 64 at their tops and lobes 61 correspondingly at their bottoms, so that after being inserted with the rounded extremities 78 foremost through the sleeves of the wet garment, and having passed between the guide jut portions 57, the hooked ends 77 are able to be positioned and stabilized in one or another of the pairs of opposed lobes 61 and 64. Depending upon which pair of lobes is employed a different degree of arm sleeve projection may be availed of or, as shown in Fig. 6, the arm components may be totally retracted.

In the case of certain sweater styles employing full length sleeves, an abundance of width is sometimes provided in the arm pit section and these styles have come to be known as bat wing. In order to prevent the always present hazard of shrinkage in a direction which would obliterate or eliminate the bat wing feature, it is proposed that the lowermost hook extremity 77 of the sleeve forms 75 and 76 be engaged within the lobes 71, as shown in dotted outline at 82, Fig. 5, while their upper extremities remain hooked in the lobes 64 of rail 63 producing a position of compromise adequate to sustain the bat wing spread. For this purpose the jut regions 57, Fig. 8, are preferably bent as at 81 to provide an en largernent sufficient to pass the hook extremities 77.

While the present invention has been explained and described with reference to specific examples of embodiment and adaptation, it is to be understood, nevertheless, that certain variations and departures are susceptible of being made within the fair contemplation of the present teachings. Accordingly, it is not intended to be restricted by the particulars of the aforegoing detailed explanation, nor by the illustrations in the accompanying drawing except as indicated in the hereunto appended claim.

The invention claimed is:

A suspension form device adapted to support shrinkable knitted garments during drying comprising, a principal torso defining member made of a continuous length of wire conformed into symmetrical neckline defining sections roundedly blending into shoulder defining sloping sections, thence downwardly bent at angular symmetrical opposed relation to connect straightline pintle supporting sections, thence rearwardly bent to form concavely armpit defining curvatures and continuing from said curvatures downwardly and inwardly to define lower chest profiling sections, said lower profiling sections being transversely connected together by a bottom rail portion adapted to serve as an anchor beam to which knitted garments of full bodice length may have their bottommost extremities attached against shrinkage during drying, a plurality of spaced parallel rails paralleling said bottom rail and spaced therefrom for affording an attachment thereat to knitted garments having correspondingly shorter than full bodice length, spaced apart tubular socket members secured at the outermost top and bottom extremities of said pintle supporting sections, and detachable sleeve defining components each comprising a single continuous wire formation and terminating at their opposite ends in opposed inwardly facing pintle projections adapted to be pivotally received in said tubular socket members, said entire device lying substantially between two parallel planes spaced apart by a distance not substantially greater than the thickness of said wire.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 877,226 Timberlake Jan. 21, 1908 1,476,555 Timberlake Dec. 4, 1923 2,137,691 Landsman Nov. 22, 1938 2,157,822 French May 9, 1939 2,161,451 Bolek et al. June 6, 1939 2,307,256 Burwell Jan. 5, 1943 2,484,805 Albert Oct. 18, 1949 2,484,807 Larson et al Oct. 18, 1949 2,539,895 Cuneo et a1 Ian. 30, 1951 

